Fated
by Jalyss
Summary: Only one of the soulmate pair can see the red string of fate, and unfortunately for Erina, it is her. Implied Sorina.


_The last few chapters have been a treat for Sorina shippers. I love their interactions!_

 _Anyway, this takes place in canonverse, except only one of the soulmates can see the red string of fate. I tried cutting it down, but it still managed to reach 7.7kwords. I'm still debating whether or not I should make my other SnS oneshot into a mini-series, but will see. If anyone wants to, there is a poll on my profile. Enjoy!_

 _Disclaimer: Don't own Shokugeki no Soma_

* * *

The first time she sees him, he is the only one remaining after everyone flees in fear of her reputation, and suffice to say, her excitement fizzles upon seeing him.

All her life she had dreamt of finding her prince, like in that one shoujo manga series she loves, only for her hopes to be crushed ruthlessly right there and then.

She is tied to none other than Yukihira Soma and his plebeian way of cooking.

She, of course, rejects the idea so vehemently that she fails him and his insufferable attitude after tasting his food. There is absolutely no way she wants to be in vicinity of him, let alone be in the same school as him, and is pleased to see the shock written all over his face.

Thinking that is the end of it, she reports to her grandfather that nobody passed the exam.

* * *

When she sees the string progressively become taut, she feels a sinking feeling of dread. There is no way that stupid man is here. She failed him!

Or maybe that was just a horrible nightmare. Maybe she isn't actually connected to that man.

She soon regrets relaxing when she sees him strut on stage after her grandfather announces there is one transfer student. She freezes. She can see the perfect red line connecting her left pinky to his and her world shatters.

Before she can process what she is doing, she storms over to him as he steps off the stage after his insulting remarks to the rest of their cohort.

She demands to know why he is here.

He holds out a letter and merely responds with, "I received a notification that I passed so now I'm here." He then has the audacity to grin at her. "I was really scared back then since you said it was disgusting. If it was good, then you should have just said so."

She twitches in anger. His cocky, irritating attitude grates on her nerves and she can't accept his being here. She can't accept the damning string tying them together. It's as clear as day, the bold crimson line mocking her as she wrestles against the urge to strangle the guy in front of her.

"Let me tell you, I haven't accepted it! Not you, nor your cooking!" she manages to bite out with all the venom she can inject. Upon seeing his dumbfounded expression, she continues, "It's a mistake, a mistake! You came to Tootsuki because of a mistake! You say you'll take the top? Don't make me laugh! All the students that passed the internal entrance exam from middle school have received gifted education in ultra-fine gastronomy. Some outsider shouldn't even look at the top! You won't be able to beat them." She passes him by, her rant finished.

He surprises her by talking back to her.

"Three years of middle school, huh?"

She turns to face him, wondering what other nonsense will come out of his mouth.

"Twelve years," he says. "That's the amount of time I've been living in the kitchen, you know? I can't have my shop's name dirtied by someone saying the food's disgusting. Wait for it. I'll make you clearly say 'it's good' with that mouth of yours. I'll exhaust my cooking to its limits!"

She can only stare at him, shocked he would even dare say such a thing to her. Her shock slowly shifts to anger, and her expression changes to one of contempt before she turns heel and leaves without a word and with as much dignity as she can muster.

* * *

It irks her to still see him around the academy after a month has passed. She has been hoping that he will be kicked out for his ineptitude, but she apparently has little luck in such things.

And every time she sees him, she is reminded that he is supposed to be the one for her. No! If she has to be stuck with him, she never wants to get into a relationship! She would rather die single and alone!

She grits her teeth and decides that Tootsuki has no need of unrefined research groups. She'll get rid of them all.

So it is unsurprising that news of her purge travels quickly through the school. Even if people know, there is nothing they can do against her and her hand-picked chefs. Research society after research society is wiped from the school grounds as she expands her own.

Her most recent conquest is the Chanko Nabe Research Society, which is transformed into her sixth personal cooking building. He is in tears when his building is demolished, and she leaves him on the ground weeping, satisfied with the vindictive pleasure of stamping out yet another useless society at Tootsuki.

The next on her list is the Don Research Society. Fortunately, Ikumi volunteers herself so that she will not have to bother with such useless cooks whose endeavours were towards vulgar B-grade dishes. And even luckier, Soma is taking up the challenge for the pathetic club! Ikumi should be able to get him expelled. It is perfect!

Naturally she goes to the event, and watches the crowd boo Soma. Really, he is making this too easy. He will be expelled today and she will never have to see his face ever again.

Or so she thought.

Her eyes narrow when the judges announce their unanimous support for Soma's dish. She turns to Hisako and says, "The kitchen I gave her, vacate it."

"Yes."

It was a mistake to take Ikumi under her wing. She thought the girl had potential, but apparently not. She doesn't need a failure in her group.

She removes her and continues on her crusade with a vengeance. Though, this time, she takes on more of the challenges personally so as to purge every last one.

* * *

The training camp from hell soon begins and she is bored, bored of all the easy exercises the alumni are putting them through. There is no challenge whatsoever. Fortunately, Hisako is with her, so she isn't too bored. Both of them finish the challenges long before any of the other students and so they are let out early.

As the director's grand-daughter, she is fully aware of what sorts of tasks will be assigned to them, such as making breakfast and dinner for the resort's customers. So it is no surprise when the alumni order them to prepare 50 meals for the guests before preparing their own dinner.

She finishes in record time, with Hisako only a few dishes behind her. She decides that it is the perfect time to go soak in the hot springs while the other students are presumably struggling to make 50 dishes in an hour since she'll have the entire place to herself.

She relaxes in the hot spring, letting her muscles soak in the warm water and enjoys the quiet respite.

She is in a good mood afterwards, humming a tune as she walks down the hallway, a little skip in her step. As she rounds a corner, she bumps into someone and is sent sprawling to the floor.

When she looks up, she sees the person she wants to see the least. "Yukihira Soma…!"

He looks sheepishly down at her and offers his hand. "Sorry! Are you okay Nakiri? Do you have a twisted ankle or something?"

She puts her hand up to put some distance between them as she scooches backwards. "D-don't touch me! I can stand by myself…"

Irritated, she stands up and regrets letting her guard down. If only she had been paying attention to the string, then maybe she could have avoided him altogether.

"At any rate, for you to be humming, you must be in a really good mood."

Instantly, she rebukes his claim. "Humming?! Who was? I don't recall doing anything like that!" Damn him! She shouldn't have been humming!

He gives her a knowing look. "Well, I can understand why you're so merry. I mean, we're staying in a place with hot springs. I even brought a deck of cards and hanafuda."

She scowls and protests, "I'm not merry! Don't put me together with the likes of you!" She waves her hand dismissively to change the subject, lest he continue to aggravate her. "This is a worthless event. They call it a hellish training camp, but it is nothing but tedious. Though…" She looks at him with a sly smile. "I wonder on what day you will drop out. That might be mildly entertaining."

He shoots her an unimpressed look. "Don't make me laugh. You were even walking so cheerfully."

This guy! He always knows what to say to tick her off. Before she can retort, Hisako runs in and apologises for being late.

Hisako's expression then turns horrified upon seeing Soma and she points at him in anger. "Yukihira Soma! You bastard, what are you doing here?!"

"Well, I kind of pushed Nakiri down."

Hisako makes a strangled angry noise, and she is immediately insulted by his words. "Don't say it in a way that will cause misunderstandings! Just go away now!" She shoos him off and watches him leave, flustered.

Hisako looks between her and the retreating Soma and asks, "Are you really fine?"

"Yes," she replies as she calms herself down.

"Oh, yes, Erina-sama, good news. I asked the reception desk and it seems they can lend us some cards and Uno!"

"I won't play that. I won't play something so happy-go-lucky." She crosses her arms in irritation and heads back to her room.

She knows she has just confused Hisako, but right now she is so irritated at her encounter with Soma. She is trying so hard to stay away from him, but fate doesn't want her to.

She enters the room with Hisako following behind her. She flounces on the bed and hugs the pillow. "Why am I stuck to someone so uncouth? If I have to be with someone like him, I'd rather die single and alone." She turns to face Hisako. "You're lucky you can't see your string."

She thought it was a good thing, being able to see the thread, in order to deter people from claiming to be her soulmate. Now she just finds it troublesome. None of the stories she read prepared her for this.

"He doesn't deserve you, Erina-sama," Hisako faithfully replies. "Perhaps it is best to minimise all contact with him."

Huffing, she sits upright. "I've been _trying_ to!" She hates him, hates him, _hates him._ She is practically royalty in the food world and he is just some _commoner_. How can he ever hope to be with her? But deep down inside, she knows the real reason why she hates him. She hates him for destroying her illusion of her prince. Her prince, who was supposed to sweep her off her feet, be completely charming and faithful and nice. Instead, she was stuck with a cocky and confident dunderhead. "Ugh, just forget about him!" She reaches over to the bed side table and picks up the deck of Uno. "Let's just start this."

She refuses to think about him any more.

* * *

Unfortunately, the next time she sees him is the night before the breakfast challenge. After listening to Gin describe the breakfast challenge of serving 200 dishes with the main ingredient being eggs, she watches majority of the students panic. She knows full well that many will not pass the next day's challenge, and all the better. The hours chefs work aren't restricted to the regular 9-5 and if these students can't handle it, they're better off dropping out right now.

She already has a dish in mind and turns to head to the kitchen when Soma seemingly pops out of nowhere and addresses her.

"By the way, during my entrance exam, the egg was the ingredient that time too. Right, Nakiri?"

"Don't talk to me so familiarly!" she retorts immediately. He has no respect! "But, I'll give you some advice. Don't show them the vulgar cooking that you cooked last time if you don't want them to laugh at your food."

"But you ate it like you enjoyed it, didn't you?"

His clueless expression just irritates her to no end. "I told you that it was bad!" She glares at the string between them, inwardly cursing its existence.

Hisako calls out to her to tell her the kitchen is prepared and she heads off, mockingly leaving him with, "Try your best to squeeze out some sense."

She walks to the kitchen and finishes her preparations in record time. Hisako is still half way through hers and she wishes her aid luck before turning in for the night.

The following morning, she moves her things into Hall A and begins setting up. As she is moving trays to the bench, Soma shows up. Unfortunately, she can't see the string while she is holding such large trays.

"Nakiri! Looks like we're neighbours! Since we started training camp, we've run into each other a lot!"

She blames fate for that, she really does. If she wasn't connected to this guy, she wouldn't keep encountering him all the time. She refuses to end up with him; she'll fight it all the way to the end.

"Looks like I'll have a chance to see your cooking for the first time," he says happily.

She'll show him what real cooking is. Hers is in a world of its own compared to his. "You can taste it as much as you like, the difference between my cooking and yours!"

As clueless as ever, he replies, "You want to compare the tastes? That's fine with me, but wait until after the test."

How dense is this guy? Can't he understand sarcasm? Refusing to let it get to her, she focuses on the preparation of her dish, Eggs Benedict.

Soon enough, the guests file in and service begins. People are clamouring to taste her dish and are naturally praising it to the high heavens.

It isn't hard to serve 200 plates. She works efficiently, doling out dishes one after the other. She risks a glance at Soma's bench and her eyes scan his ingredients. He is making an egg souffle for god knows what reason. Not only is his cooking vulgar, he has absolutely no sense whatsoever. It seems like her warning from the day before made no difference to him.

The egg souffle will shrivel before anyone takes interest in it. If he sticks with his dish, he will fail this challenge.

She easily reaches the 200 mark and continues.

With 30 minutes left, Soma still hasn't served more than 10 plates. Perhaps this will finally be the moment he gets expelled, and then she can finally forget about him.

To her disappointment (she should really stop hoping at this rate), he manages to pull through in thirty minutes by making his cooking a circus act to draw customers in.

And as much as she detests him, she has to begrudgingly admit that at least he can think on his feet, which is certainly better than most of the other students. She'll never admit that to anyone though.

* * *

The day their school leaves the training camp, she forgets her most precious photograph.

It is there where she unfortunately runs into Soma, _again._

They're both stuck in the same car back to Tootsuki, an awkward silence ensuing.

When he breaks the silence by asking her if she wants any rice cookies, she wishes he had just kept his mouth shut. It is a lot easier to tolerate him when he is silent. She flatly answers 'no' before he decides to say something annoying again.

"Come to think of it, you said that you were looking forward to see which day I dropped out, but I survived. Any comments on that?"

Irritated, she replies with, "You should just continue struggling on like that. You won't be chosen for the election after all."

"Election?"

Really, doesn't this person know anything? "You don't even know that? Tootsuki has a traditional event called the Autumn Election. It is a gourmet festival where select first years display their ability and compete with one another. For the students, it is their first chance to show their skills outside of the school since they perform in front of food authorities, like the academy's board of directors and investors. The selection has already started, didn't you notice? Since training camp's third day, the section committee members were in and out of the assignment halls." She can't believe she has to explain this to him.

"Oh!" he exclaims in comprehension. "A festival, huh? Sounds interesting! It just has this something that gets you excited."

As if he stands a chance getting chosen! "I'm telling you, there's no way someone like you will be chosen!"

In a huff, she turns her attention to the window and focuses on the scenery instead. He asks her why she is late, but she doesn't tell him, and they lapse into silence once more.

It is a relief when they reach Tootsuki. She quickly exits the car without so much as a backwards glance at Soma.

There's just something about him that riles her up so easily. They're complete opposites! How is she supposed to spend the rest of her life with him if she can't even put up with him?

* * *

She immediately rejects the suggestion for Soma to take part in the Autumn election, calling bias to Isshiki Satoshi's claims that he will make a fine addition.

To her dismay, others on the council disagree with her, and so Soma is chosen to represent the first years and she feels embarrassed at the fact that she told him there would be no way he would be chosen. Fate keeps including him in her life and it continues to infuriate her. Just because they're supposedly 'soulmates' doesn't mean she wants to see him all the goddamn time.

So she spends her time organising the event, contacting the relevant judges to take part in the Autumn election. It is not hard to get people to come. After all, she is a Nakiri and the world-renowned God's Tongue.

Hisako is chosen to participate, as expected. She gets Hisako her own kitchen to practice her dishes and spends much of her time loitering in there, attempting to kill time. The demand for her services has lulled for the moment and she has too much free time.

Alice soon finds her and the two of them head to the pool to relax and catch up. For all their bickering, they are close.

It is there where they talk about things like love, to which she has no definitive answer. She has never felt it and so cannot say anything about the matter.

Alice eventually leaves the topic and talks about other trivial things. It makes her smile.

* * *

To her surprise, Soma ends up coming in second for the Autumn election and she feels conflicted. His unorthodox cooking style manages to garner the approval of many bigshots of the culinary world.

She may not like his personality, but now she has to admit that he _may_ actually be a decent cook after all.

Thankfully, fate decides to give her a break and she manages to not see him for a while, giving her time to think.

His cooking is unlike anything she has ever see and it confuses her. It goes against everything her father taught her and she is troubled. What exactly are the components of an excellent dish? She has been told that it is all about ingredient quality and high class techniques, but he can make something that tastes good with such cheap ingredients. His ideologies are turning her world upside-down.

She turns to her regular duties, such as tasting dishes of other chefs and meeting with important people to forget about those thoughts, at least for now. She has too much to do and has no time to think about it. The stagiaire is about to start, after all.

* * *

The stagiaire passes by without a hitch and the Moon Banquet Festival is underway. She is giving commands to all the people in her area. The place is filled with people and everyone is busy serving the customers. She has the time to make sure everything is going according to schedule.

She walks down the hall when she hears Hisako stop mid-sentence in telling someone that they need a reservation. She takes a look and freezes when she sees who Hisako is addressing.

It is her father.

She never expected to see him again and she is frozen in fear. Memories of her time with him flood her mind and she is unable to think properly.

"It has been a long time, Erina, my darling daughter."

She can't say anything, and he walks past her into the dining hall. Hisako calls out to him, asking him to stop, but he pays no attention to them, and all she can do is stand there in silence and watch him stride past all her guests.

He stops in the middle of the hall and says, "Erina, your cooking doesn't exist to be served to these kinds of people. You must be more selective in who you work for. It's going to taint your dignity."

Horrified, she watches her guests retort in anger as they argue back and forth with one another about the identity of her father. All she can think about is the fact that her father is back somehow and so doesn't even notice Hisako asking her if she's all right.

When her father calls her name, addressing her, she snaps out of her thoughts and focuses her attention on him.

"Now, Erina, the first time I taught you about cuisine was ten years ago. I want you to show me how much you have polished your skills."

She still can't say anything in the face of the man that made her childhood a nightmare. Thankfully Hisako intervenes saying, "I've been telling you that we don't accept customers without a reservation."

When her father gestures towards the table she reserved for Joichiro, she finally manages to speak. "Th-that seat is for… that seat…"

Her father merely ignores her and walks by to the lone table. He sits down and commands her to bring him her wine menu. She is frozen at his words and starts shaking when he says he wants to eat something soon. Before she knows it, instinct has kicked in and she finds herself turning to serve her father's whim. Anything to escape this hell.

The door to her booth opens and Soma enters, a hu jiao bing in hand as he asks, "Yo, Nakiri, are there any seats open?"

She stares at him uncertainly, emotions in a mess. Instead of feeling her usual annoyance, she is relieved that he interrupted her meeting with her father.

"Hey, Nakiri. Sorry about this, but could you let me eat your food even if I don't have a reservation?" He holds up the bun. "Here, I'll give you one more hu jiao bing."

He's like a whirlwind. She can't even grace him with a response before he is asking her father if he'd share the table with him. Her heart stops as she watches them interact. Her eyes dart back and forth before Azami speaks, and she flinches.

"Erina, you should choose your friends more wisely." She can't form the words to deny the assumption that she and Soma are friends and instead watches her father get up and leave. "I've lost interest in this."

She's trying to pull herself together, forcing herself to clamp down on her turbulent emotions. The lights and sounds from outside catch her attention. When she makes it to the door, her grandfather is outside telling her father that he is not welcome here.

She only catches bits and pieces of the conversation, her attention focused on stopping herself from shaking. It's been so long and her fear of Azami has still not disappeared.

And when Azami holds out the proclamation of the change of the director of the academy, she stares at the ground in defeat. Her grandfather has been expunged from his position thanks to six of the Elite Ten Council and it is time for Tootsuki to enter a new era, one she looks on with trepidation.

* * *

The news travels quickly though the academy. Even now, she still cannot shake off the fear she has when facing him, and today is no exception.

"Starting today, you are relieved from your secretarial duties," her father says to Hisako.

She can see the shock in Hisako's eyes and she tries to oppose him, before he cuts her off and stares at her with those eyes, and all the horrible memories flood her mind. When he takes her hand and asks if everything is fine with her, she knows she has no choice but to agree.

She's never had a choice.

* * *

Her father continues to limit her time, controlling every aspect of her life at the academy and she is suffocating. Even after organising her schedule, he insists on being present for her tastings and she knows she has to judge the way he wants, has to throw away all food that is unworthy of being in the mere presence of him.

Then he removes her from the Western confectionery class she is taking with Hisako.

Knowing what he will do if she disagrees, she can only accept his decision and retreat to her room. It is there Alice climbs the balcony and drags her out to escape with Ryou and Hisako in tow.

When they start arguing about where she can stay, she knows she has no choice but to go back to the mansion. She doesn't want to endanger any of them, doesn't want to drag them down with her. To make matters worse, it begins to rain. She tells them of her plans, ignoring their protests. Before she can take more than five steps away, Megumi appears, and the four of them realise that they've reached the Polar Star Dormitory.

So she dries off inside on the stairwell with Hisako after Alice and Ryou head back home. While she is doing so, she stares down at the string and notices it getting taut. Soma must be heading back to the dorm and she sighs. When he enters, she is unsurprised. At this point, she has accepted that she will be stuck seeing him for the rest of her life and so his presence doesn't really bother her much anymore. Hisako takes over talking for her and she heads off to take a bath.

Too much has happened in such a short amount of time, and so she takes the chance to mull over the events.

She exits the bath and is immediately swarmed by the dorm's members, who then drag her to the dining hall to have a celebratory banquet, for some reason. Things are moving quickly, so she doesn't catch all the details.

It is there one of the inhabitants serves her a slow cooked white flesh fish with cold butter. She heavily criticises him over the dish. Soon enough, the other inhabitants start shoving their dishes at her and she is overwhelmed. To top it all off, Soma then assumes she will taste his when she will do nothing of the sort.

Perhaps if she is here for a while, it may take her mind of her personal matters.

* * *

Eizan Etsuya comes along one day and announces that Polar Star Dormitory will be shut down and she isn't surprised. Everyone else is though.

While everyone has been annoying, shoving their sub-par cooking at her, she hasn't hated being here. They welcome her with open arms and don't treat her differently just because she is the God's Tongue.

When the girls start crying, all she can do is avoid looking at them, ashamed of how things are turning out. She heads back to her room and flops down on the bed, arm over her eyes.

Azami is spreading his policy quickly. Soon enough, the entire academy will be bending to his will, and by then, she will have to return to his side. It is only a matter of time before his underlings come here to take her back and she dreads the day.

She falls asleep with uneasy thoughts swirling in her mind.

* * *

The next day, the other residents find out that Soma has gone to challenge Etsuya to a shokugeki and she can only think that he is incredibly stupid. Did he not see how the judging was stacked against him? He will surely lose and be expelled from the academy, and for the first time, she doesn't want him to be.

Soon enough, there is a commotion downstairs. Etsuya's lackeys are here to forcefully remove them from Polar Star. The residents are fending off with all their might while she sits in her room and thinks.

She thinks about all the effort they put into their cooking, all their effort into making sure Etsuya's lackeys don't make it inside and she wonders why they bother. Surely they'll be kicked out and she'll end up back in Azami's hands. Why do they try?

She hears Hisako outside, reassuring her that she will do her best to keep them away from her and she manages to smile faintly. Hisako is always trying so hard for her.

"Hisako, the people here in the dorm are kind of mysterious…"

"What do you mean?"

She thinks back on the times where Yoshino Yuki coerced her into tasting her dish, taking her criticism and instead changing it in a different way to what she recommended. Not only her, but others in the dorm ignore her recommendations on how to change the dish and instead do the complete opposite, coming up with ideas that she would never have dreamed of.

She heads downstairs with Hisako and observes the other residents and she can see that they all believe that Soma can win, he can make a miracle happen.

News of Soma's win against Etsuya reaches her ears and she is shocked that he managed to win. And, of course, Polar Star celebrates the win with fervour.

She is left with her thoughts once more and everyone else joins the festivities. How does everything revolve around that infuriating man? Everyone has such faith in him, even Hisako, and she can't help but puzzle over it. What is it about him that inspires everyone so?

Then, as if to balance out the good mood, her father enters the room, and she breaks out in cold sweat.

She knew it was too good to be true. He has come to take her back to the mansion. So, when he calls her over, she cannot resist and meekly walks to him.

She flinches when he reaches out to her, and to her surprise, he merely puts his hand on her head.

"I'm glad to see you look so well. You aren't causing trouble for the others here, are you? As the daughter of a noble family, you're a bit ignorant of the ways of the world after all." He turns his attention to their audience. "Everyone, I leave my daughter in your care."

She is too shocked to register what the others are saying to him. It is the first time in forever since he has not touched her with malice.

When her father finally leaves, she lets out a sigh of relief. Though, she does note that Soma follows him out and she briefly wonders why before following after them. Azami and Soma talking to each other can only spell out disaster. Even though she does not approve of Soma's cooking, she doesn't exactly hate him, and so doesn't want him to be dragged into her affairs.

She exits the building just in time to hear Soma say, "Saiba Joichiro is my dad."

That can't be true, right? They don't even have the same name! She looks at Yuki in confusion, who then shows her a picture of the two of them together and her mind whirls.

The chef she has admired for the longest time is Soma's father. Her brain overloads and she stares in horror at Soma. She doesn't get to dwell on that for too long before Azami brings up Joichiro and she finds out that he also knew her idol and that he was doing this all for him.

After Azami leaves, she heads back to her room, her only thoughts being that Joichiro and Soma were related. Those thoughts swarm her mind for the next couple of days.

* * *

Central's purge soon comes and the Polar Star residents head out to watch the matches. No doubt Central will eliminate most, if not all the research societies.

Before Soma leaves, she manages to talk with him for a little bit, inquiring to his thoughts about Azami and she can't help but open up a little.

"There's so much I don't know. All the pillars I'd based my life on up until now… they feel like they're crumbling away…" What is she supposed to do now? Maybe he will give her some insight; she _is_ stuck with him after all.

"I get that something happened a long time ago, but that won't change my actions. Right now, what's happening doesn't sit right with me. I'm just acting accordingly."

He leaves shortly after, giving her more to think about.

Everyone is fighting back against her father's regimen and she's just sitting here trying to pull everything together. What should she even do?

Suddenly, the ceiling tile opens up and Satoshi pops out, scaring her half to death. He slides down a rope to meet with her and she just gawks at him. When he tells her Alice is in a shokugeki with Central, she can only agree to go with him to see the outcome. Why is Alice taking part? She isn't part of a research society, is she?

She goes with Satoshi to the venue and ends up walking in on her cousin telling her father that she can never forgive him, telling him she hates him.

The courage Alice shows takes her aback. She is touched that Alice still feels so strongly about her, especially after all the horrible things she has done to her cousin.

Alice spots her and walks over saying, "If uncle Azami hadn't gone and stuck his head where it didn't belong, I'd have gotten so much closer with you, Erina!" She then turns around and points at her. "Every time I look at you nowadays, it's that same old mopey face! Try being a little more dignified, Erina! What's all this I hear about you holing yourself up in your room and causing trouble for everyone at the dorm? You should know better!"

She retorts with, "What do you mean? You're the one that dragged me out of the house!"

"Yes! I couldn't bear to see the sight of you cowering in fear of your father! You've got to show uncle Azami that you are your own person, that you aren't going to let anyone else tell you who to be! You can't just keep hiding in your shell forever, got it?!"

Just when she thinks that Alice was motivating her for her own good, Alice's next comment makes her immediately retract that thought.

"Besides, since I plan to thoroughly defeat you sooner or later, you should stop being so depressed all the time so I look even better when that happens."

"What did you say?!" She acts angry, but is inwardly touched by how much Alice cares for her well-being.

The two of them joke around for a bit before they go and Alice's words echoing in her head.

* * *

She and Hisako are wandering the hall when they see Soma and Eishi talking, with Eishi proposing a shokugeki in which they bet Soma becoming his sous-chef and the position of the 1st seat in the Elite Ten Council.

It is there they find out Central's goal: to shut down all restaurants that do not meet Central's ideals.

When Soma asks her to be the judge, she swears she and Hisako were sneakier than that.

She tastes his dish and admits that he has managed to throw together a bunch of nominally French ingredients, which is the best she can dish out to him for now. She is still a bit bitter over the fact that he is the son of the man she admired so much. Though, upon tasting Eishi's dish, she is unsurprised at the depth of flavour he manages to get from his sauce. There is a reason why he is the first seat, and she really expected no less.

It is obvious that Eishi's dish is superior. Although he is declared the winner, Eishi takes back his condition that Soma join him as his sous-chef.

Soma is lucky that Eishi has a personality like that, or he would be part of Central now.

* * *

At the announcement of the promotion exams, she goes to find Soma in his room.

The first thing she says is, "About that match you had with Tsukasa-san, I don't want to hear any complaints about how things turned out. You were in the wrong for taking such a reckless battle!"

When he acquiesces with her words, she nods and things drift into an awkward silence. She tries speaking once more, but Soma offers her a cushion to sit on before she starts.

Hesitantly, she starts speaking. "Until that day, I never had passion for cooking or the like. I spent days tasting dishes that had horrendous flavours." She takes a deep breath. "And that is when I met Saiba-sama. I tasted his dish and it tasted amazing. The warmth of the dish spread through my body. I had never tasted anything like it before. That was the first day I thought that cooking was wonderful. But then, half a year later, my father's training began." She bows her head, finding it difficult to speak, but knowing that she had to get this out to him. "I still remember how it felt, eating Saiba-sama's cooking, but nevertheless, I also understand the correctness of the ideals espoused by my father." _Somewhere along the line, I forgot what exactly cooking was to me…_

She can't look at him, instead opting to stare at her hands, and in particular her left hand. "What exactly should I put my faith in? I have been very conflicted over this…"

When she finally decides to look up at him, he is staring at her with an unreadable expression. She quickly excuses herself and starts to leave his room, only to be stopped by him.

"Wanna taste it again? I'll make it for you now, the Yukihira style of cooking."

She observes him having fun while he cooks the tendon. She can't ever recall having fun while cooking. Her eyes linger on the red string connected to his right pinky finger and she idly wonders why hers is on her left hand. The sight of the string no longer infuriates her and she thinks back to try and remember when she stopped getting angry at fate.

His voice shakes her from her thoughts. "You're making such a gloomy face again, Nakiri. Even though you're always acting so high and mighty, sometimes you get like that too, eh? You need to shape up, 'cause I'm gonna get my revenge for that day when we first met, and I'm so excited for it. Today is finally the day I'm going to make that legendary mouth of yours say 'this is delicious'!"

He holds the dish out to her and she looks at it critically, but tastes it and is left amazed once again. His use of such cheap ingredients to create that kind of flavour surprises her, especially the use of the egg.

"But why did you even decide to go with eggs?"

"Because back then, the ingredient you chose was the egg. This is the perfect dish for burying the hatchet, don't you think?"

She can't comprehend the way he is thinking, the way he comes up with all these absurd ideas that actually work. He is destroying all she thought she knew about cooking, about what all her father has taught her, and it is hard to stay afloat of it all. She can't help but question him. "How did you think up such a thing? Everyone knows that the most important part of an egg's taste is its freshness. I can understand randomly thinking of freezing an egg, but no chef I know would actually do it. On top of it all, isn't part of cooking the quest to get as rare and high quality ingredients as possible? And yet… you… why?!"

"Because that's what makes it fun."

She stares at him in silence, not quite comprehending his words.

"This is just my own personal opinion, but I feel those who only recognise one 'right' way will never go beyond and reach truly amazing things. But most importantly, the journey's no fun if you know where you're going."

It is in his last sentence where she can see hints of Joichiro, and where she can remember that this was the sort of cooking that she wanted to make.

As she finishes off the bowl, she feels a sense of peace overtake her. His cooking fills her with warmth and washes away all her doubts. She can finally accept him and his way of cooking. She can finally see how he inspires others, with his carefree attitude and unusual cooking ability, though the manner he speaks to her will still annoy her for the next while.

She finds her resolve and makes a decision, one she hopes she doesn't come to regret. She abruptly gets up and demands that Soma assemble the Polar Star members at the front door in the morning. She doesn't stick around to hear what he says and immediately heads back to her room to prepare for tomorrow.

* * *

The next morning she comes out with a megaphone, speech prepared. "As I look out at you all, I see defeated faces. The way you are now, you needn't even bother taking the promotion exams. Your results are already decided, in fact, you might as well leave the academy now. It has been many days since I've stayed here and in that time I have tasted your cuisine countless times. It has been wonderful and it has been horrid. I cannot recall how many times I've scolded you over it! But more than anything, your dishes have always been free. But with these dejected attitudes of yours, you'll never be able to make full use of your skills. Pathetic! How can you settle for this?"

When they question her on how she expects them to pass the exams, she answers with, "You'll pass by the dint of your cooking. If you all really have the drive to remain here, then I swear on my God Tongue that I will support you all. Those who lack the resolve to do what it will take, leave this place immediately! Those of you that possess it, join me in taking on these exams! If you are truly all proud chefs, follow me!"

After her nerve-wracking speech, she lets out a sigh of relief as the residents cheer.

Soma approaches her and says, "This is how you should be, Nakiri. You might have been able to say it a bit more nicely, but that thorny, strict attitude is what suits you best."

She huffs in an attempt to cover her embarrassment at his words. "I just said what was on my mind. After all, I have a debt to the people of this dorm that I must repay." The ones that taught her to move forward were all of them, and in particular, Soma.

So maybe he isn't as hopeless as she initially thought he was.

She spends the next week lecturing all the members of the Polar Star dorm on Hokkaido, trying to pass on all her knowledge to give them any advantage to passing the promotion exams.

She is sitting in the kitchen one night, preparing the next day's lesson, when Soma walks in.

"Nakiri, are you preparing for tomorrow's lesson? Come on, there's no need to get all worked up. Get in the bath and relax a little."

She turns to face him. "Yukihira-kun, this much I can handle. Don't worry."

He grins at her. "Hehe, well I guess you're right. Whether or not we get promoted is entirely in your hands, after all. I guess there's nothing we could ask for more than having you try hard for our sake."

"You too, you know."

He looks at her, questioning.

"You've been acting like all of this doesn't concern you at all, but you have to pass too, understand?" She can't believe she's saying this. After how many months of hating this guy, she can finally admit that he isn't that bad. If someone told her months ago that she would eventually accept Soma, she would have told them they were insane, but here she is, accepting him.

"Oi, I never thought I'd hear those words from your mouth, Nakiri. I seem to recall you saying that you hoped I'd fail during the camp. A bit more, in fact."

Why isn't he taking this seriously? This is important! "Stop playing games and answer me clearly. The way I am now… there's nothing I could want less than to see the people here leave this academy." She pauses a moment, forcing herself to be honest for once. "We're going to become second years together, okay?"

He answers her with a confident smirk. "Yeah, you betcha."

It is in that moment that she realises fate may have actually gotten it right as she stares at the red string connecting her to the unpredictable man standing before her.


End file.
